The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-08-15
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THE FRENCH WOMAN.
A Thrifty Housekeeper Whose EN-.
pire over the Family is Perfect.
MAX O'Rell in Harper's Weekly,


| queen. Her empire over her children is per-
feet and she leads her husband by the nose
| He does not complain of this; on the con-
trary, he enjoys it, and thinks that, after all,
much worse might happen to him. The wife
knows all her husbands affairs, and when
he has a few savings to invest he does not
think it beneath him to ask her advice. She
knows. as well as he, the current price Of
| stocks at the Bourse, and if he should be
seized with pruriency to embark in specu-
| laton, she brings to bear all her influence
over him to induce him to buy consols or any
| other government securities. Call on her
husband on business, and if he is from home,
| you will not need to make second visit on
| that account; she has all the affairs of the
| firm at her fingers end. She is the goddess
of economy and order. Every little bourge-
oise keeps a memorandum-booki in which she
writes down all her expenses. Nothing is
forgotten, not even the half-penny to the
| blind beggar who plays the flute at the street
| corner.
The french woman has a genius for cook
cry, and is thoroughly awake to the fact that
| 1t is good policy in married life to see that
| Monsieur dimes well. The politics of matri-
mony is a science Unborn in our women Let
a French woman be rich or poor-the mis-
tress of a mansion in the Champs Elysees or
of poor fifth-foor little fiat at Montmartre
or Batignolles-she has always the charm of
feminality. She is always smart, always
alert. andshas a little fluttering, bustling way
with her that is bound to keep awake your
| interest in all she does She may be some
| times little affected, but she is never vul-
| gar. On Sundays and holidays she dresses
still little more elegantly than usual, but
| she never appears to be in Sunday clothes
| The middle-class French woman is lady-like,
not only in her dress, but in her speech.
| You will never see her loaded with cheap
| Jewelry, this great stamp of vulgarity, and
when she speaks to you, you cannot guess
whether she is the wife of gentleman or of
| a small tradesman
Notice that she often changes the style of
| her hair. That is because she knows that
love lives on trifes, and that the best dishes
become insipid il they are always served
| clothes is scanty, her clever brain and fingers
help her to cover its deficiencies by constant
| little changes. With two or three dresses in
her possession, the dear little humbug will
make you believe that she has well filed
| wardrobe.
| l have often in England heard French
women called frivolous. But this is the
height of absurdity, and in my quality of
Frenchman surely ought to be as good
| Judge of the point as the English tourist,
| How can French women, who are perhaps,
| OF all women in the world, the most initiated
| into the affairs OF their husbands, be frivo-
lous? If friyolity consists in trying to re-
main young and attractive as long as posi-
| BILE without becoming ridiculous, then the
French bourgeoise is frivolous. If, again,
| friv0lity consists in making home cheerful
| and gay, and preventing husband from be-
ing absorbed by the cares of business, then
CHI TC fri Ils.Nfl I, &c l.
she frivolous, this woman who is the friend
and c0nfdante of her husband-who, in inn
portant matters as we'll as the smallest, has
both consultative and deliberative voice in
the household? 1t is she who knows, WITH
her economy and good ADVANCEMENT, how to
face the danger Nlen< from one cause or an
ether, the family revenue diminishes; it Is
she who knows, with her energy. how to
ward of ruin from the household. Ii this
woman We're frivolous, how could you ex-
| plain the alteration for the mother which,
| even to the lowest of the low, you find in
| French children? How could this be, unless
she were the example of all domestic virtues
| Ii Frenchman of forty would hesitate to
| take an important step in life without first
consulting his mother, surely it must be that
! he recognizes in her wise guide. 1t would
be mere naivety on my part to dwell longer
on this absurd charge of frlvolity
| Take now the Shop-keeping classes. There
you will see the wife the active partner of
| her husband. Behold them both as the
commercial traveller displays his goods on
the counter The wife is supreme. Her OBJ
| Jections are without appeal, her opinion f.
nal 1t is she who generally has charge of
the books and the cash-box, and neither
| books nor cash were ever intrusted to better
| guardianship She is not a mere house.
| keeper, with or without wages; she is the
| partner, not merely sleeping partner This
not only enables her to be of great help to
| her husband. but it also enables her, if she
happens to become widow, to carry on the
business without her husband, to be indie
pendent, and to bring up her children. She
has not, to obtain her living on her husbands
death, to become working honsekeeper or a
nurse; she is the mistress of her own house
as before. and now the head of the firm. In
her shop she Is most polite and en1preSsee
but never servlle, and if you wish her to take
you Tor gentleman, don't keep your hat on
while you are engaged with her in CONNER
clal transaction. have still present in my
memory the little following aneedote. *
Wel-dressed man once entered perfumers
| shop where was purchasing a pair of
gloves Keeping his hat on all the time, he
| addressed the perfumer'S wife in a most Off
hand manner. But what exasperated the
dear woman was that, after inquirng about
| the price of some score of articles. he nre-
pared to retire, saying, "He didn't think he
wanted anything" Il think you do re-
piled the woman, who was not to be wholly
without revenge; you want few lessons
| in poiteness, at all events.
n
ty and magnificent monarch of modern times
used to lift his hat even to the female ser
wants OF his court If so, no man need think
that he derogates from his dignity by keep
Ing MS nat of In a respectable shop where he
Is served by woman.
might say word or two on the draw
backs Of the influence of women on French
men, but there is no doubt this influence has
polished our manners. Even in buiness in
tereourse politeness is not banished. In
InEf nh Al~-
PAY to-" In France they are worded, " Veu-
tttez payer Please to pay" Kindly paw
etc.
You cannot obtain perfect notion of
french industry unless you pay visit to our
peasantry must say that now the woman
ceases to be attractive. She does not even
attempt to look So Sunburnt, hale and
hearty, behold her, dear English tourist. that
is the fortune, that is the fortune of France.
She does not wear fringes on her forehead. /
VIII admit; she does not wear hounces on a
secondhand skirt, or hat with flowers and
feathers, and she totally ignores shilling d.
mondS. She has coarse serge gown on and
simple snowy cap. She is clean and tidy.
ana the personlfcatlon OF industry. do not
doubt, however, that, thanks to the blessings
OF gratultous and compulsory education, the
time will soon come when she will want to
Initiate the ladies of the town in her habits
ana dress, and that her sons will despisc the
dear land where they were born, and will all
want to be clerks, and swagger in town with
high stand-up collars, tight trousers, and
sticks. Thank goodness, this sickening
spectacle is not yet to be seen in France!
This good, Woodworking, thrifty womanis
the backbone of the country. The amount
OF work she can get through is simply prodi-
gious. You will always see her busy, either
working in her field, selling the produce of
her little farm in the market-place of the
nearest town. or engaged about her little
household. Whether she takes her cow to
the field, or is on her way to town. whether
she Is sitting behind her wares waiting for
customecs, or in railway station waiting
for her train, look at her fingers busy on a
pair of stockings. She does not know what
it is to be idle for single moment. She has
never left her dear village, ami for her the
world is made up of her three acres and
cow" But she has got them, and, thanks to
her frugal habits and splendid management,
her family can live and thrive on them, She
Is not attractive, but she is a picture of
health and cOntentment. Shares and bonds
may go up or down without disturbing her
peace; she holds none She trusts her saw
ings to nobody. Bankers, she thinks, COM
pany directors, and stockholders may be
very respectable persons, but when the old
stocKlhg Is swollen with fve-franc pieces,
sne rounds of her little family domain and
puys a new held-something she is quite
SuIe 10 hnd IN It's place when she wakes I'D
ia the morning. Her daughter goes into ser
lgAG n..sa.